These Rules may be cited as the Hybrid Schemes Quality Requirements Rules (Northern Ireland) 2012 and shall come into operation on 1st July 2012.

In these Rules—

• “contracted-out employment” shall be construed in accordance with section 21(4);

• “contracted-out scheme” shall be construed in accordance with section 32 of the Pension Schemes Act;

• “normal pension age” has the same meaning as in section 175 of the Pension Schemes Act;

• “the paragraph (a) quality requirements” means the requirements for a money purchase scheme under section 203 (and referred to in relation to hybrid schemes in section 24(1)(a));

• “the paragraph (b) quality requirements” means the requirements for a defined benefits scheme under sections 21 to 234 (and referred to in relation to hybrid schemes in section 24(1)(b));

• “relevant scheme” has the meaning given by rule 2(2).

In these Rules any reference to a numbered section is a reference to the section of the Pensions (No. 2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 bearing that number.